Monday, June 9, 2014

Dear DILs: Life Skills

Dear
Future DILs,

As
I continue to pray for you and what you need in an husband, it occurred to me
that it might be nice if your husbands can assist you in the kitchen.

I
say this from experience. I despise cooking. I really do. I think I do a decent
job…I mean, no one in the house really complains…however that might be due to
the “if you complain about a meal which someone has taken their own time to prepare
for you, then you will be the one fixing dinner for the family on the next
night”.

That
may have something to do with it…possibly.

Regardless…no
one has died yet from my cooking. At least that I know of.

And
all this rambling to say: I would love love love it if Mr. AR was more
confident and could help me just a touch more than he does.

Frankly,
he’s really not so helpful when it comes to the kitchen. I don’t think he even
had home ec in school…this makes me sad for so many reasons. He also does not
know how to sew on a button. Seriously? Who doesn’t know how to do that?!?

But
I have digressed…

Now
that I have put together such a rousing plug for my cooking, I shall inform you
that I am teaching my boys (aka your
future husbands) how to cook. Mind you, ladies…this will not be haute cousine.
Nothing fancy schmancy about this. We are simple, basic people…in many ways.

Don’t
judge.

But
our food will surpass edible. It will be good. That’s the goal anyway.

But
right now, it is summertime. I kind of loathe summer for one simple reason: there
is no schedule. I am ready for school to begin again in the worst way. I mean…I
am ACHING to start. All this slovenliness…sleeping the day away.

Getting
up at 7:30…unbelievable, right?

But
I promised the PBA that we would wait until fall to start up school.

Ha!

See,
that’s funny b/c “fall” is now July 28…over a month before the pool closes. At
least two months before leaves begin their transformation to glorious colors
other than green (sorry to all you green
lovers out there…green is ok, but not really my favorite color; don’t judge).

But…we
all will have had PLENTY of time off and will seriously need to get back into a
routine. Things will have been silly around here for long enough. Time to get
to work.

It
will be at that point that we will begin our “Life Skills”…and this year, it
will involve cooking. OK, it will BE cooking…not just involve it.

They
will either copy down the recipe, or will write it as I narrate it and put it
in their “cooking binder”…a new-to-them recipe each week.

Please
be advised, when I say “cooking binder” what I actually mean is a small photo
album I picked up at Goodwill for $.99 and then covered with some duct tape.
They each have their own which I am fairly certain they will treasure all the
days of their lives.

So…I
have included below my list (thus far)
of that which I am planning to teach them. Please remember…we are NOT fancy. So
if you are, that’s all fine and lovely for you…and your husband may not be as
helpful as you might hope. Though he won’t be paralyzed as Mr. AR sometimes is
when I ask for help beyond making a salad (which,
as an aside, the PBA can currently do reasonably well...especially if I buy
bagged salad; I don’t mean to brag here).

This
list is in no order whatsoever, and is simply a jumping off point for us/me. And
most of them are not difficult in the slightest. And some of them build off
another item (i.e. boiled eggs one week, deviled eggs the next).

But
the whole reason I include the list here is to see if there are any additional items
which you’d like him/them to know how to make.

Without
further delay, I give you the list:

Baked fish

Quiche (chef’s choice
on kind)

Biscuits

No bake cookies

Artichoke dip

Salsa

Blondies

Meatloaf

Chili

Mashed potatoes

Tacos

Brownies

Pound cake

Coffee cake

Pulled pork

Pancakes

Quick bread (baker’s
choice on type, but fingers crossed it will be pumpkin)

Sloppy joes (which
will include how to brown meat…ground beed, turkey, chicken, etc…the options
are limitless!)

Pigs in a blanket

Spaghetti (pasta in
general actually)

Chocolate chip cookies

Mac & cheese (from
scratch)

Guacamole

Hard boiled eggs

Deviled eggs

Pie

Roasted chicken and homemade chicken stock

Chicken noodle soup

Baked potatoes

Stir fry (chef’s
choice on type…except tofu…I refuse to let that stuff enter my house…and yes I have
eaten it so I’m not making an uninformed judgment about its level of
disgustingness)

If
there’s anything you think MUST me added, don’t hesitate to let me know…via comments
below, on FB or send an email. I have no preconceived ideas that this list is
all-encompassing.

Love,

Your
Future MIL…and also someone who hopes and prays that you are an ah-mazing chef.

Random Stuff About Me

I will be fostering (hence the blog name…see what I did there? No, not just a clever name b/c I am a foster care advocate; this technique is called a double-entendre…look at me teaching so much already. Perhaps I under-estimated myself and my educational abilities...) the woman I feel God has meant me to be: a writer, a sharer, a story-teller, a friend, a listener, a prayer-warrior and lots of other hopefully-funny, silly, and crazy things.